Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Prior to the 2017 contest, Radiotelevizija Slovenija (RTVSLO) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Slovenia twenty-two times since its first entry in 1993.^[1] Its highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been seventh place, achieved on two occasions: in 1995 with the song "Prisluhni mi" performed by Darja Švajger and in 2001 with the song "Energy" performed by Nuša Derenda. The country's only other top ten result was achieved in 1997 when Tanja Ribič performing "Zbudi se" placed tenth. Since the introduction of semi-finals to the format of the contest in 2004, Slovenia had thus far only managed to qualify to the final on four occasions. In 2016, "Blue and Red" performed by ManuElla failed to qualify to the final.

As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, RTVSLO organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country. The broadcaster confirmed its participation in the 2017 contest on 20 July 2016.^[2] RTVSLO has traditionally selected its entry through a national final entitled Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA), which has been produced with variable formats. To this point, the broadcaster has only foregone the use of this national final in 2013 when the entry was internally selected. For 2017, the broadcaster opted to organise Evrovizijska Melodija 2017 (EMA 2017) to select its entry.

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EMA 2017 was the 21st edition of the Slovenian national final format Evrovizijska Melodija (EMA). The competition was used by RTV Slovenija to select Slovenia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, and consisted of three shows that commenced on 17 February 2017 and concluded on 24 February 2017. All shows in the competition took place at the Gospodarsko razstavišče in Ljubljana and were broadcast on TV SLO 1, Radio Val 202, Radio Koper, Radio Maribor and online via the broadcaster's RTV 4D platform.^[3]

The format of the competition consisted of three televised shows: two semi-finals held on 17 and 18 February 2017 and a final held on 24 February 2017. Eight songs competed in each semi-final and a public televote first selected two entries to proceed to the final. An expert jury then selected an additional two finalists out of the six remaining songs. Eight songs competed in the final where the winner was selected following the 50/50 combination of points from six regional juries and a public televote.^[4] Each jury assigned points as follows: 1–8, 10 and 12, while the televote assigned points that had a weighting equal to the votes of six jury groups. The song that received the highest overall score when the votes were combined was determined the winner.^[5]

Artists and composers were able to submit their entries to the broadcaster between 20 July 2016 and 3 November 2016.^[6] 90 entries were received by the broadcaster during the submission period. An expert committee consisting of ManuElla (2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Boštjan Grabnar (musician, composer and music producer), Aleksander Radić (Head of the Slovenian delegation at the Eurovision Song Contest) and Jernej Vene (music editor for Radio Val 202) selected sixteen artists and songs for the competition from the received submissions. The competing artists were announced on 4 December 2016.^[7] Among the competing artists were former Slovenian Eurovision contestants Omar Naber who represented Slovenia in 2005 and Maja Keuc (Amaya) who represented Slovenia in 2011.^[7] On 20 January 2017, Amaya announced that she would be withdrawing from the competition on the advice of her record label; she was replaced with the song "Tok ti sede" performed by Clemens.^[8][9]

The two semi-finals of EMA 2017 took place on 17 and 18 February 2017, hosted by Tina Gorenjak, Maja Martina Merljak and Tanja Kocman. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, Veseli svatje, 2012 Slovenian Eurovision entrant Eva Boto and 2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant ManuElla performed as guests during the first semi-final, while Samuel Lucas and Alenka Godec performed as guests during the second semi-final.^[10][11] In each semi-final, the eight competing entries first faced a public televote where the top two proceeded to the final; an additional two qualifiers were then selected out of the remaining six entries by a seven-member jury panel.^[12] The jury consisted of Eva Boto, Martin Štibernik (singer, composer and music producer), Alenka Godec (singer), Rebeka Dremelj (2008 Slovenian Eurovision entrant), Patrik Greblo (conductor and composer), Jernej Dirnbek (musician) and Anika Horvat (singer).^[13]

The final of EMA 2017 took place on 24 February 2017, hosted by Tina Gorenjak, Maja Martina Merljak, Tanja Kocman and Mario Galunič.^[14] In addition to the performances of the competing entries, 1994 Croatian Eurovision entrant Toni Cetinski, 2016 Slovenian Eurovision entrant ManuElla and 2016 Eurovision winner Jamala performed as guests.^[15][16] The combination of points from six regional juries and a public televote selected "On My Way" performed by Omar Naber as the winner.^[17]

Omar Naber made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "On My Way" as the Slovenian Eurovision entry. On 2 April, Naber performed during the London Eurovision Party, which was held at the Café de Paris venue in London, United Kingdom and hosted by Nicki French and Paddy O'Connell. Between 3 and 6 April, Naber took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where he performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.^[19][20] On 8 April, Omar Naber performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.^[21]